Best education administration books according to redditors

I read a book called Hacking School Culture. I also just googled "classroom community circles research" and I got a lot of awesome results.

Once I learned about them I bought some guides and question prompts on teachers pay teachers.

https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-School-Culture-Compassionate-Classrooms/dp/1948212056

https://www.iirp.edu/images/pdf/RsmGIW_Restorative_Approaches-_First_10_Days_1.pdf

>> Have a source for how they 'perform worse'? By what metric are you measuring performance? The guy you were replying to wasn't saying that the education an average child receives was the best, but that the best education in the world that money can buy is in the US.

And that's absurd. You can't have an education system that only serves the privileged few, education is a god damn human right and does nothing but improve this country.


>> Citation needed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/15/education/15report.html

Private schools don't even outperform public schools in America when you account for factors.

https://www.amazon.com/Public-School-Advantage-Schools-Outperform/dp/022608891X

Here's my 2 cents on the subject. First, I'd give up on the idea of debating. Most of the debating I see is nothing more than verbal warfare--how productive is that? Well, it probably depends on what your objectives are. Are you out to belittle people and make yourself feel better? Than verbal warfare is the way to go. Are you out to improve knowledge or discover truth? Then debating probably isn't the route to take. Whatever, I'd establish the objective upfront. I'd recommend simply asking questions and providing sources.

So what are some questions involved in the spanking subject?

1. What are the parents goals?
   
2. Do the methods applied meet the desired goals?
   
3. What is the self-ownership status of a child?
   
4. When does a child gain full agency?
   
   
5. Goals will vary by parent, but shouldn't this question be asked every time the subject comes up? Most parents will answer with goals like happy, productive, independent, socially skilled, able to think critically, whatever. I doubt many parents will say out lound that they want obedience, silence, blind acceptance of authority, shyness, inability to bond, addictive behavior, a poor relationship with their parents as adults, approach-avoidance behavior, depression, divorce, etc. The point is, the question needs to be asked, and the answer must frame the response.
   
   
6. Do the methods applied meet the desired goals? Now would be an excellent time to provide links and sources. There is a wealth of information available on the effectiveness and consequences of different parenting techniques. Read the sources, compare results to the desired goals, make your decision. No emotional and verbal warfare required.
   
   
7. What is the self-ownership status of a child? I've yet to see a complete theory or philosophy on this subject. I'd recommend saying you don't know or labeling all proposals as a "working theory" to diffuse all the negative reactions you're likely to get on this emotional subject. Personally I think parents should have a trustee relationship with their children, and that a child's request to leave a household should be honored as soon as he can make it. I have no idea how to put that in an argument but suspect it would involve knowledge of cognitive development.
   
   
8. When does a child gain full agency? Well, first you have the whole can one own oneself debate. Then you'd have to argue when that occurs, if it does. I again lean towards the trustee relationship and gradual development of agency.
   
   Here's sources for those interested in studying the issue instead of yelling at each other:
   
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbiq2-ukfhM
   
   http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.php
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Unconditional-Parenting-Moving-Rewards-Punishments/dp/0743487486/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338338284&sr=8-1
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Discipline-Compliance-Alfie-Kohn/dp/1416604723/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338338349&sr=1-1
   
   http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_17?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=punished+by+rewards+by+alfie+kohn&sprefix=punished+by+rewar%2Cstripbooks%2C256
   
   http://www.amazon.com/No-Contest-Case-Against-Competition/dp/0395631254/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338338440&sr=1-2
   
   http://nospank.net/
   
   http://www.rie.org/
   
   http://www.wholechild.org/vision/documents/TheEffectsOfImprovingCaregivingOnEarlyDevelopment.pdf
   
   http://www.echoparenting.org/
   
   http://www.becomingtheparent.com/all/hp.html
   
   http://drgabormate.com/
   
   http://www.committedparent.com/
   
   http://www.janetlansbury.com/
   
   http://www.regardingbaby.org/
   
   http://www.eileensclasses.com/
   
   http://www.mindfulparentingnyc.com/Mindful_Parenting/Welcome.html
   
   http://www.riemiami.com/
   
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Parent-Caring-Infants-Respect/dp/1892560062/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338339719&sr=1-1
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Your-Self-Confident-Baby-Encourage-Abilities/dp/1118158792/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338339719&sr=1-3
   
   http://www.amazon.com/The-RIE-Manual/dp/1892560003/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294253451&sr=1-1
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Blessing-Skinned-Knee-Teachings-Self-Reliant/dp/1416593063/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298050770&sr=8-1
   
   http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ruth+anne+hammond&x=0&y=0
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Parent-You-Want-Sourcebook/dp/0553067508/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294253521&sr=1-1
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Life-Toddler-Alicia-Lieberman/dp/0028740173/ref=pd_sim_b_2
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Theories-Attachment-Introduction-Ainsworth-Brazelton/dp/1933653388/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1298051329&sr=8-10
   
   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XR2CGU/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1C1SJ1BR2T4ADEN9VMJM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Unfolding-Infants-Natural-Gross-Development/dp/1892560070/ref=pd_sim_b_1
   
   http://www.youtube.com/user/stefbot/videos?query=parenting
   
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyNQFG7C8JM
   
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjxXuDYdBzY
   
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONNRfflggBg
   
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1GJsCa_4G8
   

My suggestions to Catholic schools: advertise some/all the following to parents:

• discipline without "zero-tolerance" policies
  
• ethical/moral/religious teaching and curriculum completely consistent with what you teach at home, particularly the inherent dignity and worth of other human beings, the need to serve the less fortunate, the call to use our gifts instead of hiding them, and the importance of abstaining from sex until marriage
  
• teachers who choose to teach there
  
• no "school resource officers" (i.e. cops with guns) enforcing the rules
  
• no public school bureaucracy - just you, your child, and the teacher
  
• rigorous curriculum in all subjects
  
• higher test scores on average than public schools (which is true!)
  
• plenty of volunteer opportunities for interested parents
  
  There is going to be an implosion of America's public schools coming, and soon. If Catholics schools play their cards right, they will be well positioned to pick up millions of parents - Catholic and non-Catholic alike - fleeing the crapfests that public schools have become.

It wouldn't be graded and it would be questions about their lives, interests, what they care about, what they want to see in instruction, questions they have. I imagine it as a silent free write for five or so minutes. It's actually pretty commonly recommended in pedagogy research, especially when students do not share the teachers cultural, class or racial background. I haven't personally tried it.

Edit: it's also featured in books where students are interviewed as something they like
https://www.amazon.com/Fires-Bathroom-Advice-Teachers-Students/dp/1565849965

>How would you define a good vs bad school, or is it just about movement of students?

>How would you assess if a teacher is good or bad?

The parents decide, just like they do for everything else for their kids.

>Should private and/or charter schools be required to go through some sort of process to certify their merit before being allowed to enter the educational system

No.

>Presumably you would support private and/or charter schools, how would you make access to them affordable for poor students?

Every kid gets a voucher, to be used at any school they wish.

>being pointed to a good resource would be appreciated.

This book.

And this book.

But to be honest, imo, the best way to educate your own kids is this way.

> Where do you get the idea that employing a Peace Corp Volunteer takes a job away from a Host Country National?

I just thought it'd be better to educate English teachers, since then you'd be helping out adults that can then continue your work once you're gone. 1 PC teaching 30 teachers means that those 30 teachers can then go teach 900 students, instead of 1 PC just teaching 30 students. But if their isn't anyone around to become teachers, then it looks like MZ does have a problem.

> Besides, with both sides forcing adults into employment, there was no one left to teach.

What about teaching MZ students about /r/unschool? Here are some books that I highly recommend: What Smart Students Know , Study Smarter Not Harder , The Unschooling Handbook , The Unschooling Unmanual , and Unschooling Rules.

> I'll spare you the statistics, but feel free to do some research into literacy and overall education in MOZ.

Yup, you're right.

I usually question everything, especially with regards to activities that our Government engages in here and abroad, since I just don't trust the bastards. But it sure does sound like Mozambique needs more help than I thought, initially, and I'm glad you and lenaurora are going to do it in whatever way you can. I'll delete my previous negative comments, don't want those sticking around.

Cheers and good luck mates! Make sure you update Reddit so we know if there's any other ways in which we can help.

If you're interested in learning more about the public schools in New Orleans I would definitely recommend the book Hope Against Hope which I just read this Summer and really enjoyed. But maybe that's just cuz I work at a charter school down here.

If you want to do some reading on the topic, one of the more useful textbooks that we've been using in my program is "Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology" (Reiser and Dempsey, 2017 https://www.amazon.com/Trends-Issues-Instructional-Technology-Measurements/dp/0134235460). It has chapters dedicated to history, to theory, to major (and alternative) ID models, etc. It would be more than enough for a grounding in models and theories, and would give you something to talk about during interviews.

I'm sure you could find all the information online, as well, but it's nice to have it organized and contextualized in a text :)

If you've not come across it before, Battle Hymn for Tiger Teachers is amazing and great as an example of the counter-thrust that some in the UK are taking to this form of teaching.

I found it very liberating.

Twitter can be great for connecting you to the 'traditional' teaching education sphere.

Some selected people that I've found useful:
@oldandrewuk
@DavidDidau
@daisychristo
@greg_ashman
@Doug_Lemov

You can really go from there.

Fires in the Bathroom

Great book that gives perspective on teaching from a students point of view. It was remarkably insightful, and very helpful in learning how to deal with the good and the bad that comes up.

I am reading this book at it is GREAT. I highly recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Project-Based-Homeschooling-Mentoring-Self-Directed-Learners/dp/1475239068/

Your child will get SOO much more out of this approach and you can still do more formal curriculum if you want.

A couple of books worth checking out, both by Alfie Kohn:

Punished by Rewards

Beyond Discipline

To be honest this doesn't sound like the best homeschool environment. But: Many (if not most) homeschoolers of kids who were pulled out of public school take a sort of "detox" period when the kids are taken out of school. This kind of gives them a chance to relax, put the public school environment really on the back burner, and kind of reset to get ready for homeschooling.

The kinds of programs you are describing are basically "school at home." This is fine for many kids. For a kid who obviously hates school and "learning" as he perceives it (i.e. what he has been forced to do at school all his life,) this is probably not a good option.

There are as many different ways and methods of homeschooling as there are families who homeschool and that's really what is so exciting and effective about it. Now is a great time to start exploring these methods WITH HIM. He is certainly old enough to have a vote in how he learns.

For a kid who is resistant to book learning I would read up about unschooling, free range learning, project-based homeschooling. It goes by different names but the basic premise is the same: people learn best when they are interested and engaged and making their own choices about what to learn and when.

He needs to start taking an inventory of his interests and abilities. Is he mechanically inclined? He obviously doesn't like to read but what about math? Video games? Does he want to learn how to code? What about animals? He could become involved in a program that trains dogs to become service dogs for people with various disabilities. The possibilities are really endless and bounded only by his own imagination.

This could be a very exciting time for your brother (and the rest of your family); fighting about sitting in front of a computer all day and reading about the civil war or whatever is not going to help anything. He has decided he doesn't like to learn. This is a potential tragedy but he is still young and there is still time to change his mind.

It is important that when you begin his interest inventory (I would suggest doing this as a family) that there are no disparaging comments made. If he says he is interested in video games, it goes onto the list. If he loves to play guitar, it goes onto the list. There are plenty of ways to work those interests into valuable projects, you just have to get creative.

On another note: he is old enough to start learning about trades; if he thinks that's where his interests may be. You could track down electricians, plumbers, any kind of tradesman in your area and I'm sure any one of them would be thrilled to explain their career and necessary education to a 14-year old.

It looks like you live in Texas? I am also in TX and the state has some of the most liberal homeschool laws in the nation. Unschooling is definitely possible here.

I noticed that you said your parents are high school dropouts and that they can't teach your brother. This does not have to be a barrier to his education; at the high school level most parents aren't actually "teaching," anyway, they are acting more as mentors. It is important that they are on board in supporting his projects and interests but they don't have to teach him trigonometry; there are plenty of other ways to go about getting that information when he needs it.

I hope this helps. The most important thing you can do right now is to get him excited about learning something. ANYTHING.

Check out the sidebar, there are lots of books and such. I love the book Design for How People Learn and this Trends and Issues textbook is also a great survey; more academic though.

This is one of several attacks on the finding that public schools outperform private schools when student SES is accounted for, that was documented in the book The Public School Advantage. These attacks do nothing to dis-prove the findings of this book. One of the authors of the book provides a thorough rebuttal to the attacks here. So, no private schools don't beat public schools.

I’d like to read this for guidance and motivation. Maybe we can get a couple copies and study together?
Culturize: Every Student. Every Day. Whatever It Takes.Culturize Book

How about this : https://www.amazon.com/Pikachu-Pokemon-Notebook-Journal-Diary/dp/1797487310/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=pokemon+notebook&qid=1558993953&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Focus by Schmoker is one we just finished reviewing in my district, and I like how it suggest paring down the standards to a set you know you can accomplish and accomplish well.

Edit: Also forgot If you don't feed the teachers by Connors. She did a PIR day at my district a few years ago, it was very insightful and uplifting.

someone actually gave me this book: Buddha in the Classroom

It was easy to read and pretty inspiring. Talks a lot about avoiding burnout and dealing with unpleasant situations in the classroom, mostly anecdotal from a college teacher, but still applicable. In fact, I might have to read it again...

Those books are great, and I'm a big Kozol fan, but they're starting to show their age in terms of up-to-date data. If you're interested in more academic works with new data, Gary Orfield (co-author of the report this post is covering) has written a couple of recent books that put in Kozol's themes into current context.

I mean, in Rothman's history, he details a number of initiatives, like Goals 2000, going back to the Bush Sr. administration that simply went no where. If I had been following at the time, I would have been surprised that this thing had legs.

So much that someone wrote a book about it.

So, I've got almost everything I need to start my online course but there's a very cute notebook on my Uni Stuff wish list which I would adore (and it's unicorn themed which makes it even more amazing!) it's definitely... back to school cool!

Edit: so I hope it's not too late but I just found an even cuter notebook which I love more than anything! Its in my "uni stuff" list. I hope it's not too late to change it but fully appreciate if it's not appropriate for me to change at this late stage!

I enjoyed Homeschooling for Excellence https://www.amazon.com/Homeschooling-Excellence-David-Colfax/dp/0446389862 and Project Based Homeschooling https://www.amazon.com/Project-Based-Homeschooling-Mentoring-Self-Directed-Learners/dp/1475239068/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=project+based+homeschooling&qid=1557432686&s=books&sr=1-1

I'm having a very similar experience with both my emotional state and the classroom environment.

Most people wouldn't say this, but perhaps your instincts about discipline/punishment are worth listening to. In the short term, for the sake of your sanity, you may need to set them aside, because in my experience, they don't lead to quick fixes, and as you said, a structured environment is important for your students. However, I would posit that structure does not REQUIRE punishment, though that's certainly one way to get there.

I highly recommend these two books: Beyond Discipline and Lost at School. I think you would find them quite validating. Even if you (or any others reading this) are not willing to entirely give up punishment, I believe there is ample evidence out there that there is another way.

Feel free to message me if you are interested in discussing. This is an issue I feel very deeply about, even if I am currently not skilled enough to create the kind of environment I'd like to see.

Best of luck with the rest of your school year!

This was recently recommended to me. There are a number of resources in here for how to record and give feedback.

Supervision That Improves Teaching and Learning: Strategies and Techniques (Volume 4) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1452255466/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kJiTBbHQ50PTP

>I know several kids who were kicked out of private schools for having low grades. So it has at least does happen in some instances).

Ok, I'll concede that it does happen sometimes. But overall, I'd bet that schools which care very much about average test scores are probably very selective as to who they'll accept in the first place.

Of course, if we got rid of public schools entirely then all that money would be freed up for private sector education, which would mean an enormous and unpredictable variety of school choice.

If you're interested, this book examines how it has worked in the past.

My public school was awesome. Great physics, science, math, computers, language, technology, and history educations. (graduated mid 00's) Ended up in a top university.

Know why? I lived in middle class neighborhood in a rich area of town. Schools are funded largely by local property taxes. Poor places tend to have worse schools. A great example of this is 2 elementary schools in the city of Atlanta: Morningside Elementary School, one of the best schools in the entire state, and Thomasville Park Elementary school, one of the worst in the entire state. They are both part of the Atlanta Public Schools district. One resides in the dilapidated old industrial south part of town. The other resides in the northern, office-based, commercial, and residential part of town. I'm sure I don't need to tell you which is which.

This pattern is repeated across the nation. Poor places have bad schools, well off places have great schools. Given this, do you really think that poor places are going to just grassroots fund their way into great private schools if public schools are taken away?

>You need not ask if your policy feels good, but does it do good. In other words, does it work? Social education doesn't work for the same reason no other bureaucratically managed industries work - they lack proper incentives and controls to innovate and self-manage efficiency.

This just doesn't seem to be true. In the past decade, a bevy of new research has shown that private schools do not actually produce better outcomes. This book is a deep examination of data that shows this. You can find gobs more information out there, including the foot notes and references in that book.

I guess I still don't think the ideas you're proposing are going to educate everyone, though I certainly think we could agree upon the fact that they ARE over-regulated with the endless testing and metricization and focus on memorization rather than teacher certification/trust, reasonable pay, and training students to think and learn problem solving skills.

>Are there asshole parents out there that are going to buy a new car instead of send their kids to school? Sure. But you can't get hung up on this as a reason to make ineffective decisions based on appeals to emotion.

Isn't that what you're doing when you say government schools are producing uneducated people who are destroying the west? "Oh my god, destroying the west? We have to get rid of public schools now!"

> No government welfare program can even hold a candle to the Red Cross

The US Military seems to do a pretty kickass job of being there for disasters that happen across the world.

>The absolute most effective mechanisms for social welfare are private institutions - hands down.

After Reagan gutted the public mental healthcare system (an admittedly primitive system, but one that at least attempted to help the most likely to recover to do so) the only private system to spring up has been those based on exorbitant profit which the majority of Americans cannot afford.

>Why is it you put so much trust in a group of people that has little accountability and no incentives? The market has these - put your trust there.

This seems farcical. Some serious mistakes were made at the founding of the country (and many on the way to now) that prevent us from truly holding our elected officials accountable, including but not limited to: non-enforcement of increased representative count with larger populations, FPTP elections (for some positions), allowance for arbitrary and politically motivated district allocation, and others. In the early 1920's onward, after a pushback against the guilded age corruption from the 1880s to the 1920s, the increased involvement of money in politics, allowed by the justice system, and codified by the judicial branch, has led to our officials becoming beholden to moneyed interests, instead of the people.

I think we could if we make a few changes so that the system is a bit more accountable to us, rather than those with gobs of money - which leads me to...

As for the market - we've seen what happens when the market allows companies to act uninhibited - they attempt to maximize profit at the expense of anything that gets in their way: they permanently contaminate large swathes of land ( here), they pollute water supplies indiscriminately ( [here] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes#Pollution) and (here), they kill people via food for profit (here and here), they kill those that get in their way (here), they poison vast swathes of the world (here). I could go on. So I ask you: what makes you place your trust in opaque capital market entities that pursue profit at all costs rather than the one entity in society that isn't driven entirely by never-ending increase in profit regardless of the consequences?

>Ask yourself honestly, which are you?

Definitely a 1, I'm just trying to get by while leeches like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamara_Ecclestone and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump inherit billions of dollars and don't have to do an honest day's work in their lives to live in the lap of luxury.

Given a more equitable society I would love to do hands on work with children, but it's just not possible if one wants to escape the trap of labor exploitation and one day be able to pursue such works.